Dandelion Summer ~ a book review

 

Dandelion Summer by Lisa Wingate is a book that I will not soon forget.

This is #4 in the Blue Sky Hill series and with this being the first book that I've read by this author, I had not read the first three books, but it did stand well on its own.

The story primarily deals with two individuals,

J. Norman Alvord, who is a man in his 70s who is retired from his work at Cape Canaveral.  

Epiphany Jones is a 16-year-old girl whose father was black and her mother Italian.  Her mother's family, who owned and operated an upscale Italian restaurant, disowned her when she became involved with Epiphany's father and then had Epiphany.  

"J. Norm", as Epiphany refers to him throughout the book, is a widower, just having lost his wife a few months prior to the story's beginning.  His daughter, with whom he did not have a good relationship, is concerned about his safety and has been trying to persuade him to give up his home and move into an assisted living facility.

When J. Norm doesn't agree to the plan, Deborah agrees to hire someone to come to the house one day a week to do the cleaning and prepare a meal for her dad.  He finally begrudgingly consents to that arrangement.

Shortly thereafter is when Epiphany enters into the story. She's had a very unstable life because of her mother's indiscretion with men.  For a time, they had lived in another part of Texas, and they had lived with an older woman who had taken Epiphany under her wing, giving her a lot of good wisdom and taking her to church.  When they moved to the current location where this story takes place, Epiphany had to start in a new school where she was constantly bullied by the other pupils because she was of a mixed race.

In time, Epiphany went to work for J. Norm and little by little they became great friends.  He became like a grandfather to Epiphany, as she helped him to try and solve the mystery of his childhood because of some reoccurring dreams he had.

I enjoyed this book immensely because it dealt with social issues that in today's culture, I feel gets overlooked.  In reading Epiphany's story, it caused me to think about things that I hadn't really dwelt much on before...

things like what a child who is bullied goes through, and how the actions of parents can set their children up for hard times.

Definitely recommend...especially if you like surprise endings.